“That’s the thing. Axelrod realized that it was more than just a game. It was an allegory for life. Biology follows this pattern; ecosystems, too. A species needs a level of cooperation with other species for the betterment of both. And within species, packs, families, everything—this tit-for-tat strategy wins out. You can’t be a complete pushover. If someone does something bad to you, then you need to hit back. But you also need to be forgiving. The ‘tit-for-tat’ or ‘nice guy’ strategy has been applied to everything from war, business, and trade to cybersecurity.”
“Interesting.” Vaughn wasn’t just paying lip service. He had no idea about the widespread application of such a simple game. To him, math was reserved for calculating sales taxes and interest rates. “I just don’t understand why someone is using these games to kill people.”
Ivy’s face dropped.
“That I can’t help you with,” she said solemnly. She took several large gulps of her Guinness. “WhatIdon’t understand is why someone would go to an abandoned barn in the middle of nowhere to play.”
“That’s the easy part. We found an ad on Aaron Treadman’s computer, in his email. It advertised a game show for a streaming service, offered a payout of 1 Bitcoin to the winner.”
“So it’s about the money?”
“It’s always about the money.”
Their eyes met again, and Vaughn immediately dropped his gaze. He noticed Ivy’s glass.
“Look at that. You split the G.”
“Of course. The volume of the glass is sixteen ounces. The glass itself is tulip-shaped, and the middle of the G is roughly 3.75 inches from the rim. Applying a volume-height curve, that makes the volume of beer to be removed roughly seven ounces. A typical mouthful of beer is three ounces, so I calculated the number of mouthfuls to be two plus an additional third.”
Vaughn craned his neck forward. His eyes widened.
“You... you calculated all that in... seconds? The... volume... the—”
Ivy broke into laughter. “No, I just guessed.”
Vaughn laughed, too.
After they were finished, he drove her back to the assisted living home to retrieve her car. He no longer saw flashing police cherries in the distance. Instead, the entire field had been lit up with massive floodlights. It looked like an evening baseball field, ready for the opening pitch.
“Thank you for your help tonight, Ivy.”
He saw lines around her eyes and reached out with his thumb. She pulled back at first, then let him touch her. He gently rubbed her skin.
“Just marks from the mask.”
Ivy leaned forward. Vaughn did the same.
Their lips almost met.
“Thank you,” Ivy said, stepping back.
Vaughn nodded.
As much as he’d enjoyed and needed the reprieve, it was time to get back to work.?
?Chapter 40
Vaughn was thoroughlyspent. After dropping Ivy off, he’d gone back to the crime scene. Relieved Delaney.
Dr.Button was still there, and CSU tech Landon was with him. Vaughn helped finish processing the scene. The ME wasn’t yet prepared to confirm that the victim’s cause of death was H2S poisoning, but that was just the man’s profession peeking through. They all knew this was the case.
They’d found an identical canister of gas. Remote switch. Router. Speaker. The victim was a man in his mid-thirties.
Vaughn didn’t get home until close to three in the morning. Dr.Button was destined to have a longer night still.
The fuzzy feelings that had come over him following his drinks with Ivy faded.
They were long gone the next morning when he arrived at Darnell’s house forty-five minutes later than he told his partner to be ready, and the man still wasn’t answering his phone.
